Pearl Harbor Day reminds us of need to honor all veterans

After reading last Sunday’s article on the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and how the 50 survivors paid tribute to their fallen comrades, you can’t help but feel that all survivors of World War II should be honored for their service all year round.

As a daughter of a WWII veteran who was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, I’ve personally heard stories that seem incredulous. One of those stories includes my father describing how he narrowly made it over a 6-foot-tall fence just in time before a grenade exploded behind him.

More than 12,000 U.S. soldiers and Navy personnel were dead or missing, with more than 36,000 wounded before Okinawa was secured.

Hopefully all service men and women will receive the benefits, honors and recognition that they so richly deserve every day.

Sharon Mercado, Campbell

Obamacare: biggest con job ever

Remember back in 2008 when President Obama told the plumber from Ohio that he believed in taking from people that have it and giving it to people that don’t have it? This is the biggest con job that America has seen in its life.

People used to have the greatest health care in the world. They were paying for things they needed for their families and for themselves.

Now government says all these policies have to go, because they weren’t paying for birth control or paying for abortion coverage for other women that did not have coverage. Soon the businesses will have to change their policies to cover these things, too.

Soon people won’t be able to get the coverage for cancer, heart problems or anything else they need.

This is the saddest day in America when we can’t choose our own health coverage. When sex is the only important thing in out country that the government seems to care about.

Is this the “hope and change” we want for America? No freedoms to choose what we want or need in our lives or just take what the government tells us we should have or need.

Is this truly America? Where is she? We need her back now. We, the people, need to fight for our freedoms and rights again. We can’t just sit back and do nothing. People are hurting.

Lena Fox, New Middletown

Growing fears of socialism show lack of independent thinking

Recently a writer asked why anyone would want to change our wonderful country for a more socialist society. I feel compelled to respond.

Although life may have seemed quite wonderful to a 10-year-old living in the 1940s, there were many injustices they may not have been aware of or considered. Jim Crow and sundown laws prevailed across the nation oppressing a group of Americans for the color of their skin. Many Japanese Americans were deprived of liberty, property and due process of law as a result of hysteria.

The writer sees the Jewish people as a brilliant, smart, talented group of people. I observe these traits among many ethnic and religious groups.

Hard work and talent merit financial reward, but this wealth should not entitle someone to privileged treatment before the law or unequal influence in the political process. Does this not warrant change?

A documentary similar to “War & Remembrance” shown in a Communist nation might be construed as propaganda. As a 10-year-old, I was led to believe the Vietnam War was a noble cause, but as I grew more knowledgeable I learned this was not the case. I believe greed led to the atrocities of World War II, which occurred all over the world, not just in Europe.

When writers blame liberalism, socialism, communism and all the other “isms” they were taught to fear for the world’s problems, I question their ability to think independently.